Make It Stop
by XquisiteProdigy
Summary: ONE-SHOT for Fandom4Children. Bella and Edward have been best friends their entire lives. But when can friendship be so dependent that it hurts the other? Will they discover love before its too late? Rated M


**This one-shot is written for Fandom4Children, an organization which raises funds and awareness to assist the mistreated youth of our generation. Feel free to like the group on FB to learn more information on how you can help. **  
**Thank you to LvTwilight09 for establishing the group in which we can attempt to stop the physical and verbal abuse amongst kids and to Mia Cullen for her ninja-like beta skills. Love you both! :)  
**

* * *

**Make It Stop**

"_Make it stop_." Bella begged, rubbing her scrapped elbow in the sandbox.

Edward, even at five, knew just what to do. He planted a slobbery kiss on his best friend's arm.

"It's okay Bewwa." He whispered, his green eyes filled with sorrow. He clutched her hand and offered to help her with the sandcastle they were trying to make during recess.

He was so lucky his next door neighbor, and best friend, was in his kindergarten class with Ms. Alice. She was the best teacher ever, because she always let them paint with their hands. She said "paintbrushes held back our artistic creativity."

_Whatever that meant._

Jared and Emmett always mocked the friendship he had with Bella, but to Edward, it didn't matter. Bella was his exact opposite with messy brown hair always thrown haphazardly into pigtails, and eyes the color of a Hershey's chocolate bar. He had more blonde and copper colored hair and was taller by a few inches. They were born just one month apart and had stuck together through anything.

Even when one of them was… hurt.

They stuck together, even in the worst of times.

Like now.

* * *

"_Make it stop_." Bella pleaded, brushing her injured knee.

Edward, even at seven, knew she just needed a kiss. He quickly pecked the reddened spot, and went to grab their matching Aladdin lunch boxes. Lunch time was the best part of school. They always packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, an apple, string cheese, and juice boxes. Sometimes one of them forgot an item, and they shared.

It's what they did.

They were two peas in a pod.

Edward patted the empty seat next to him and tried not to laugh at the smashed sandwich in Bella's lunch.

Everyone knew you needed a container, not a baggie.

Silently, he traded the sandwiches without saying a word. Bella smiled feebly, and took a large messy bite, the jelly dripping out of the sides.

She would always be his best friend.

Even if she did eat like a pig.

* * *

"_Make it stop_." Bella whispered, as Edward wiped the dripping blood from her ear with the sleeve from his shirt.

Even at the age of nine, he did just that, grazing his lips against her injured head.

They stretched out lazily in her tree house, the moonlight filtering through the open window. They weren't supposed to be out there, but at least one parent would know where to find them. Lying on their bellies, Edward opened the magazine he had retrieved from under his father's pillow. They giggled and made disgusted faces at the women who were lying on furry beds with no clothes on. Edward felt a tightening in his abdomen, even though he couldn't figure out why. Bella blushed a crimson shade across her cheeks, and looked away.

Knowing it made her feel uncomfortable, Edward instead pulled out their hidden box of treats. It had all sorts of candy and toys, but it was their personal secret. There was no way their parents could find out they were eating all of that junk food.

Bella's dad would flip.

And no one wanted that.

* * *

"_Make it stop_." Bella murmured, and Edward held ice up to her blackened eye.

He caressed her bruised eyelid and held her tight in an embrace. They needed each other the most right now, but Bella needed him more. She was bleeding and she was too scared to tell her dad, instead running to Edward for help. He knew what it was, because his father was a doctor. He explained how it was her period, and ran into his own house to grab his mother's pads, the small squares wrapped in pink packaging.

Bella was embarrassed, but he showed her what to do and she ran into the bathroom.

When she returned, she was smiling and Edward gave her a sheepish grin.

He would always be there for her, even if she was growing into a beautiful teenager. It was then he noticed the small lumps forming underneath her shirt.

Suddenly Bella was no longer the little girl with messy tendrils sweeping across her eye.

It was at twelve years old he noticed how… cute she was becoming.

* * *

"_Make it stop_." Bella cried, and Edward wiped away her tears with his swollen lips.

They were on their way to their freshman dance, but a certain parent wanted to make things… difficult.

He brushed on her lip gloss to cover the gash across her lip and turned her around to face the mirror in her bedroom.

At fifteen, it had taken all of Edward's strength to ask Bella to the dance, but he was shocked when she had said 'yes.'  
He was positive she was going to accept Jasper's offer, the new blonde-headed student who had transferred from California. Every girl in high school drooled over his bright blue eyes and wavy long hair. His cool surfer-dude demeanor was so unlike the rest of the Forks population, and Edward was surprised Bella didn't fall for his charm.

_I guess some prayers do come true_, he thought.

He pulled down the hem of her dark blue dress, and told her how beautiful she looked. She giggled and a tremor ran through his body.

He winked at his date and grabbed her hand.

Edward was no prince charming, but it was this night that he realized Bella Swan was indeed his Cinderella.

* * *

"_Make it stop_." Bella said with authority, her hands on her hips.

No longer standing before him was the timid shy girl, instead his girlfriend had transformed into a brazen woman, taking bullshit from no one.

Edward shifted his feet, and attempted to kiss her on the cheek, but now she would no longer hurt herself for his sake.

At five, when Dr. Cullen had twisted Edward's elbow so hard that it ached for days, she scraped her own elbow at the sandbox to match his pain.

At seven, when he bashed Edward's knee with a baseball bat, she banged her limb against the bathroom wall until she couldn't stand it anymore.

At nine, when Dr. Cullen discovered Edward near his bedroom, he had thrown a medical book at his head, causing his ear to bleed. Bella suffered with him, using her desk to mimic the gash.

At twelve, the day she began the process into her womanhood, she refused to ask her bachelor father for help with her menstrual cycle. Instead she asked her best friend for help, only to see him on his knees in a corner with a swollen eye. Bella didn't say a word, only punching herself until the contusion matched Edward's.

At fifteen, when the dance was approaching, Edward asked Bella, with high hopes, to accompany him. When Dr. Cullen discovered this, he yelled at his son, berating him until he was in tears. Telling him how he was the scum of the earth, shouting that Bella was too good for him. So when he smacked Edward, causing the teen to have a split lip, Bella battered herself. Even though she was dressed beautifully for the night, she made no qualms about mimicking the wound.

But now… now they were seventeen. Now was their graduation day. Now when they would both turn eighteen over the summer, things would change.  
She was tired of Edward being the good doctor's punching bag. She was tired of hurting herself so that it would make Edward feel better. She was tired of giving excuses to family and friends, teachers and classmates.

Edward, even though he had grown into a man, one that Bella was proud to be in a relationship with, swallowed the lump in his throat. He reverted into an abused child even at the mention of Carlisle's name.

But not anymore.

"_I'll make it stop,_" Bella ordered, and grabbed Edward's hand. As they rushed down the stairs in their bright yellow graduation gowns, she tapped her dad on the shoulder. He was strict, but the most loving man you could ever meet.

He was the example of what a father should be.

Edward was shaking his head furiously, not wanting for his wounds to open to the Police Chief, but Bella was not to be deterred.

She pushed up Edward's sleeve, holding up the silky fabric of the gown. "Dad, please."

That was all that needed to be said.

Charlie Swan had been trying to build a case against Carlisle Cullen for some time now. He was not ignorant to the bruises, welts, and burns that his daughter's best friend and boyfriend had been receiving over the years. The problem was that Edward refused to acknowledge the abuse, and Bella would go as far as disfiguring herself, making it appear as if they had been playing rough.

"_We both fell off our bikes Dad," she would say._

"_Sorry Dad, we were boxing and it got out of hand," she claimed._

But now, the two teenagers who he was very much proud of, stood before him ready to take action.

Edward was like his own son, and you didn't mess with family.

It was time Carlisle learned that.

* * *

Edward was never one to cry, but a tear escaped his eye as Bella grasped his hands, uttering her vows before him.

She was always his best friend. His confidante. His first and only lover.

But today, she would be his wife.

It was not an easy road. Making sure Carlisle received jail time for abuse. The years of therapy, allowing him to acknowledge that it was never his fault. The struggle with his mother; wondering to this day if she ever knew about the beatings.

None of that mattered.

Bella was the one that had saved him. She was there through the struggles, the strain never getting too heavy a burden on his shoulders.

The priest pronounced them husband and wife, but Edward did not hear the rest. He brushed the curls away from her face and dipped her into a kiss as their family and friends cheered.

Their tongues swirled in happiness.

In love.

In forever.

As they took a moment to catch their breath, Bella caressed Edward's cheek fondly.

"I love you," he whispered, his voice breathed in her ear.

"Just promise me one thing..." she replied, her voice filled with the essence of affection.

"_Don't ever stop_."

* * *

**Thanks for reading. The subject of abuse is near and dear to my heart, and if you or someone close to you needs help with domestic abuse, please notify your local authorities. God Bless. **

**xoxo, **

**XP**


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